When a star comes to the end of its life and dies, it can be an epic and destructive event, throwing out an explosion of heat and light — but it can create stunning new forms as well. A gorgeous new ...

The swirling, paint-like clouds in the darkness of space in this stunning image seem surreal, like a portal to another world ...

For over forty years, astronomers have been baffled by X-rays from the white dwarf at the center of the Helix Nebula. A white ...

This small planetary nebula, like others like it, was formed by gases in the outer layers of a dying star. The nebula we see today is a shell of dust and gas that was ejected from a star as it ...

This image of the Helix Nebula, released on March 4, 2025, shows a potentially destructive white dwarf at the nebula's center ...

Decades of constant X-ray emission from the Helix Nebula’s white dwarf suggest debris from a Jupiter-sized planet steadily rains upon the star.

Scientists have been receiving X-ray signals from the Helix Nebula for decades, but now they believe it may hide a horrifying and grisly secret.

On winter evenings, Orion is one of the easiest star patterns to find in the sky ... (and easily seen through binoculars) is the Orion Nebula. Throughout the nebula (which is about 30 light ...

Meyer (University of Michigan), A. Pagan (STScI) The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has probed deep into the dusty shroud of a young nebula alight with star formation on the hunt for "failed ...